Digging deeper for workplace equity
- One Loud Voice
- 28 minutes ago
- 3 min read
A new approach to achieving lasting change
“Dig deeper and ask better questions” – that’s Helen Taylor’s view on the key to real workplace equity.
Helen, Chief People Officer at TPT Retirement Solutions, believes simply reporting gender pay gap numbers misses the real story. Tracking figures is a start, but true change comes from understanding what’s behind them.
With support from One Loud Voice (1LV) ambassador and non–executive director of TPT Michelle Darracott, along with TPT’s CEO, David Lane, Helen sought out more rigorous ways to benchmark gender equity.
1LV is a charity that works to improve gender equality, particularly in business leadership.
We advised Helen to try our new WE+ Measure tool which provides a clearer, more nuanced view of what hinders women’s progress into senior roles. Helen used it to kickstart her improvements across the TPT business.
The power of asking better questions
Standard government metrics can feel like blunt instruments but with the WE+ Measure, organisations get a more comprehensive overview of how they’re doing by asking more considered questions.
There are many disparate strands of best practice in the gender balance space: sponsorship, equal parental leave policies, returner programmes, flexible working, leadership pathway schemes, HR hiring and promotion targets, and more.
A first-of-its-kind programme, the WE+ measure identifies easy wins, as well as longer-term efforts for a bigger impact and brings all the best practice initiatives together into one cohesive strategy. It’s what enabled Helen and her team to uncover root causes, not just outcomes, in a process that sparked ideas for quick improvements and deep, multi-generational change.
Changing the culture for everyone
Key actions taken by TPT following the analysis, included:
Coaching and sponsorship to help women into leadership roles
Enhanced family leave policies, encouraging paternity leave
Supportive return-to-work policies for mothers
Targets for increasing women’s representation at the top
A culture where women are nudged, backed, and believed in, and
Robust reporting on gender equity across policies and practices.
Support from the top
Helen, currently the only female on the TPT executive board, stresses the importance of buy-in from other leaders who all need to be equally committed to equity. This has helped TPT make swift changes based on objective metrics.
She says more men at TPT are taking paternity leave which opens opportunities for women to either take shared parental leave, or return to work earlier as the main breadwinner. If reflected across other businesses, this trend will help change corporate mindsets and shift perspectives of raising children, so that it’s seen as equal responsibility between both parents.
“In the past I’ve felt like a lone voice in flying the flag for gender equality. But here, we have a supportive CEO and momentum is building. It’s so important to encourage our women employees to aim high; having the support of the senior leadership team really helps with this goal.”
The crucial point is choice and opportunity, for everyone. Helen’s advice? "Don't settle for surface-level data. Dig deeper to uncover real pathways for change."
“Don’t settle for surface-level data. Dig deeper to uncover real pathways for change.”
The WE+ Measure – what is it?
WE+ is designed with ‘all of us’ in mind and structured around seven strategic goals:
Goal 1: Commitment to gender equality
Goal 2: Minimise bias in recruitment, promotion and reward
Goal 3: Resolve structural issue around working patterns and benefits
Goal 4: Create psychological safety and an inclusive culture
Goal 5: Genuine partnership approach between genders
Goal 6: End gender discrimination and harassment
Goal 7: End gender pay gap
It acts as a foundation upon which to shape workplaces where taking leave for caring responsibilities, whether that’s a new baby, a sick child or an elderly relative, is as standard in a man’s career as it is in a woman’s.
It aims to support women at every point of their career, by working with organisations to help fix structural imbalances within so many business systems.
For organisations interested in using our WE+ Measure to help meet gender equity goals, get in touch to find out more.
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